There are many forms of slot machines found in casinos. Such slot machines typically consist of a housing, a display portion, processing circuitry, pay in and pay out mechanisms, player control devices, and a top light. The slot machine may play any game, such as randomly stopping motor-driven or simulated reels to obtain symbol combinations.
A light located on top of the slot machine (a top light) typically comprises two or three differently colored segments. Each segment is optically separated from an adjacent segment, and each segment contains a white light bulb. Surrounding each white light bulb in a segment is a colored film, such as a red, yellow, white, blue, or green film, which produces a red, yellow, white, blue, or green light when illuminated by the white light bulb. The light bulbs are selectively illuminated to create color codes for the casino operators or the players. For example, some color codes indicate the denomination of the slot machine. Other color codes, including flashing lights, convey to the casino operator that there is a malfunction, or that the coin hopper is full or empty, or that the player needs to paid out manually, or any other requirement.
One problem that exists with such top lights is that different jurisdictions, such as different states or different countries, use different codes for the top lights. This requires the manufacturer to provide different top light colors and different control software or hardware to produce the required top light codes for the jurisdiction.
What is desirable is a technique to reduce or eliminate the burden of changing the top light configuration for different jurisdictions.